Somewhere Along the Way
by Panja Mysy
Summary: They weren't sure quite when it had happened, but somewhere between stealing cookies together at daycare and this very moment as they sat on the couch comparing college homework...they had come to be far more than just best friends. Something closer to soulmates. I saw on Tumblr a great need for College AU Springles so I am stepping up to fill the need :D


**So, I've been searching high and low for Springles fics that have them as the main characters, not side characters, and I've been seeing a lot on Tumblr about people wanting a College AU…so I figured I would answer the call AND satisfy my own needs!**

 **So here is my first Springles fic! I love them! You should too!**

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Sasha turned the key in the lock and looked back over her shoulder at her three housemates with an excited smile. Connie was practically bouncing on his tip toes trying to see past her, Jean was leaning against the stair rail looking like he thought she was taking too long, Marco was waiting patiently with a smile on his face. Without further ado, Sasha flung open the door…a little TOO hard because the handle hit the wall on the inside with a loud bang and made them all jump in surprise.

"Someone obviously believes in keeping their hinges well oiled," Marco commented as they all filed through the doorway and stood together in the entryway.

Sasha scanned visible parts of their new home for the next two years…and maybe beyond depending on where they found themselves after college graduation. The entryway was small, just a 4x4 square of linoleum with a welcome mat, three coat hooks and a key rack off to the left on the wall. The living room was seamlessly continued to the left and directly in front of them was a staircase. To the right was a doorway that Sasha assumed led to the kitchen and laundry room.

"Well…home sweet home, boys," she said cheerfully, and then gave her roomies a mischievous look, "Last one upstairs gets last choice of room!"

Connie was right on her heels, being used to her spur of the moment decisions and challenges and they skidded into the upstairs hallway together, laughing as they quickly examined the four rooms to decided which they wanted.

"DIBS!" Sasha threw her suitcase on the bed of the room closest to the bathroom, the largest and with the most natural light. Connie gave her an annoyed look but conceded his loss and quickly claimed the room directly across the hall.

Sasha looked around her new room with a smile, imagining filling the white painted shelves with her possessions and making it her own private space. She stood up and began walking around the space as she planned the layout of the already existing furniture plus her incoming items. Her TV would go in the corner next to the closet. The desk would have to be moved to the opposite wall. Get the bed away from the window. Yes…this would do quite nicely.

She skipped across the hall to Connie's room and sat right down on the bed next to him and put her arm around his shoulders.

"Isn't this awesome, Con?" she asked enthusiastically, "Out of the dorms at last! Peace and quiet and a place of our own where we can make our own rules!"

"Yeah, it's gonna be a great year," Connie agreed, following her example and putting an arm over her shoulders as well, "Do we have any classes together this semester?"

"Let me check!" Sasha jumped up and nearly knocked Jean over in the hallway as she crossed it to reach her room. Grabbing her bookbag, she sifted through the papers until she found her schedule and return to Connie's room where he waited with his own tattered copy of a schedule in hand. They sat there and compared and both were delighted when they both had two classes together: Anatomy and Physiology Lab and Speech II…both classes they'd been putting off since last year, dreading them.

"At least we can suffer through them together," Connie muttered as he haphazardly tossed his schedule on the floor and then stood up, "Wanna go start unloading? We get our rooms set up first, we can play some Xbox and veg out one last time before Monday."

An appealing plan indeed, Sasha thought and she followed him into the hall and down the stairs. They headed to their individual vehicles first to unload the smaller stuff and the cardboard boxes, making several trips inside until all their belongings were stacked randomly around their rooms. Then they recruited Jean and Marco to help unload the furniture from the moving van that Marco's dad had driven here for them.

"Don't let me forget to return this van tonight, guys," Marco pleaded as he and Jean handed down the entertainment center from the back, "We'll get charged again if I don't."

"We won't let you forget, Marco," Jean rolled his eyes and jumped down to help Sasha and Connie move the rather large wooden structure into the house while Marco grabbed a pair of lamps and followed behind them.

Trip after trip they made until they were all exhausted and everything was inside and in place…but everything was still packed up in boxes and Sasha was getting hungry.

"Holy cow, Sasha, was that your stomach making that sound?" Jean asked with a disturbed expression as Sasha's stomach let out what might be described as a small roar. She clutched it tight and nodded, looking embarrassed.

"Yes," she moaned, "I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," Jean rolled his eyes.

Sasha opened her mouth to defend herself but there was no need, Connie was at her side in a second giving Jean a squinty eyed glare.

"Leave her alone," he insisted, "We're all hungry. This moving thing isn't easy!"

"I agree," Marco said as he walked into the living room, "Let's take the truck back and find someplace to eat out of the house."

"You're brilliant, Marco," Sasha praised her tall, dark haired friend and gave him a nudge in the side as she passed, "Come on, Connie, we'll go with Jean in his car."

Jean hadn't agreed to this really, but Sasha knew he'd give in and drive after a moment of grumbling and complaining. And he did.

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They returned the moving truck first and Marco hopped in the car with the rest of them and they headed downtown to Sasha's favorite pizza place and ordered enough pizza to feed a football team to take back to the house so they could continue unpacking after lunch. Easier said than done because Sasha and Connie kept sneaking pieces out of the boxes and eating them in the backseat no matter how much Jean threatened their lives if they got pizza sauce on the seats. Eventually Marco took all the boxes and kept them on his lap to prevent any more grazing before they reached home.

The four of them ate on the couches since the coffee table was the only surface available to set anything and then they split up into pairs to tackle the living room and kitchen boxes. Sasha grabbed Connie by the arm and dragged him unceremoniously to the kitchen with her, leaving Marco and Jean to organize the living room.

"Hand me that box with the pots and pans." Sasha commanded as she dropped down on her knees and opened one of the lower storage spaces. Connie obeyed and then grabbed a box to unload himself, laying the contents out on the counter for Sasha to examine and dedicate a space for. Sasha practically lived in the kitchen and she was an amazing cook, so she had immediately claimed the right to organize it how she saw fit. "Cookie sheets and cupcake pans go in the drawer under the oven."

She heard the metallic scrape of the oven storage drawer opening and the clanging of things being piled inside and she grinned. This was going to be a great place to spend the last few years of college…dorm life had begun to get on her last nerve and she'd eagerly accepted the offer to move in with her three friends when they'd asked her…much to her father's dismay.

After about an hour, they had unloaded all the utensils and small things and retrieved the microwave and coffee maker and dish rack and baker's shelf and arranged everything to Sasha's liking. They stepped back and took a look at their hard work.

"I'm hungry again," Sasha announced.

Connie rolled his eyes and laughed at her, but he retrieved one of the boxes with the leftover pizza in it and handed it to her wordlessly. This was just how it was with them, most of the time they didn't need words to communicate since they knew eachother so well.

"What d'ya wanna tackle now?" he asked with a yawn as she started wolfing down the cold pizza slices straight out of the box.

"Our rooms, I guess," she mumbled her reply around her mouthful, "We have to get the Xbox set up and have an Xbox and chill night, remember?"

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An hour or so and a lot of loud music and sing alongs later, the two best friends were collapsed side by side on Sasha's bed as they wrestled new batteries into their Xbox controllers.

"We need snacks," Sasha commented as she set her controller down at her side, Connie was still struggling with the batteries. She rolled her eyes and snatched the controlled from his hands and shoved the batteries in with practiced fingers. "Come downstairs with me? I don't want to go alone…this place is creepy at night."

"Sasha, you better get used to it," Connie reminded her, "You know Jean and Marco have night classes and I'll be out with the crew a lot for the first few weeks."

"Yeah, I know," Sasha nodded unhappily. She hated to be alone at night but Jean and Marco had signed up for an 8 PM art class and Connie was part of a "secret" dance crew that did performance pieces and protest art, usually always working their setups and practices at night. "So, all the more reason for you to protect me from the creepy house while you have the chance!"

She knew she'd won when Connie gave her his signature sidelong grin and stood up, nodding for her to follow as he made his way towards the door. She giggled and followed happily, clutching onto his arm as they made their way down the dark stairway, Jean and Marco had finished the living room long ago and had shut everything down when they'd come up to unpack their rooms.

"Wow, I can't see shit," Connie muttered and Sasha heard the sound of tapping the wall as he searched for the light switch. He must have found it because suddenly Sasha's eyes were blinded by the bright light from the living room and she squeezed her eyes shut with a groan. "Oh, whoops."

"Warn a person next time, Connie," Sasha muttered, punching his shoulder lightly, "Come on, let's raid the fridge!"

She felt her best friend right on her heels, but he veered off for the pantry as she headed for the fridge. _Ah, yes, divide and conquer! Good thinking, Connie._

Between the two of them, they gathered chips and salsa and cookies and cheese cubes and chocolate milk and a case of soda. Giggling like the mischievous imps they were, the two friends charged back up the stairs and deposited the results of their scavenging on the floor by their pillows that they'd laid out to create a comfy hangout spot on the in front of Sasha's rather large flat screen. Sasha ripped open the chips and poured the salsa into a bowl, because the two of them never concerned themselves about double dipping. Connie popped them open cans of orange soda and poured them red solo cups full of chocolate milk. They were set. Let the games begin!

They began with Super Smash Bros., a classy choice.

"Oh my god, get that stupid hammer away from me! NOOO!"

"Eat my Falcon Punch, Braus!"

"How about a taste of my foot in your stupid face, Springer?!"

"Don't even TRY, you know you don't stand a chance against Pikachu! I'll shock your ass into next week!"

In the dorms, this ruckus would have bought an entire slew of curious students into their room, taking over the area and ruining their quality time together…if you can call yelling out insults at eachother "quality time". But Sasha had always gotten annoyed at the influx of people on her time with her best friend…she sighed happily and put her arm around Connie's shoulders, pulling him into a side hug.

"What's that for?" he asked her, not fighting the hug at all, actually it felt to Sasha as if he was leaning into her closer than her hug had originally caused.

"I'm just happy you guys asked me to be your fourth," she told him honestly, "And I just felt like hugging my best friend, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing at all," Connie laughed, "But you do realize I just kicked you off the map three times? Guess I just won!"

Sasha growled and pushed him away from her, he rolled onto his side and laughed hysterically as she sputtered and spewed and demanded a rematch, accusing him of cheating.

"You're lower than a snake's belly button, Connie!" she shrieked when he ejected the game and replaced it with Call of Duty.

"Yeah, but you still like me," he dismissed her comment easily, giving her a wink and his usual cheeky smile.

"I don't know why sometimes," Sasha pouted, sticking out her bottom lip dramatically.

"You're really gonna hate me after this," Connie challenged as he started making selections for the upcoming battle on the TV screen, "I'm gonna pummel you into the ground this time!"

"You've yet to beat me at this game, Connie," Sasha's pout faded, an eager and wicked smile took it's place, "Prepare to get wrecked!"

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When Marco woke up to use the restroom, he heard the sound of music on a loop and he went to investigate; what he discovered when he peeked around Sasha's cracked open door made him smile and shake his head in amusement.

The TV was still playing the menu screen of Call of Duty, a small mountain of empty chip bags soda cans, solo cups and pillows surrounded the dynamic duo on the floor. Connie was flat on his back arms and legs splayed out almost like he'd collapsed backwards right in the middle of the game, controller still in his left hand. Sasha was curled on her side, game controller laying at her feet, cuddled right up against Connie's side, her head resting on his arm and her fist bunched up in the material of his shirt. Small snoring sounds came from both of them and Marco backed up quietly so as not to disturb the scene.

"One of these days those two are going to have to realize what everyone else already knows," he whispered out loud to himself.

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 **Well, there's the start :D**

 **What do you think?**

 **Let me know! Ok…I'm going to sleep now!**


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